Just finished a week at the Element. We had a 1 BR for a family. It was pretty nice -- a full kitchenette (pretty much everything but an oven) and a separate bedroom with a closing sliding door. The room was actually pretty small for a 1 BR -- I was sort of wondering how they were going to fit a kitchenette, fold out sofa, and 1 BR king all in 500 square feet, but they do it. It's essentially a square and there isn't much extra room in the living parts of the room once the sofa bed is unfolded.

Staff was fantastic. There was a free hot breakfast every morning, which was pretty good and they had a few special choices on the weekend. 24 hour access to a coffee drink machine (latte, mocha, hot chocolate) and the pool and fitness areas were nice and had long hours.

They had a nightly hors devours wind down on weekdays, but we didn't make it to that at any point. They also have self-serve laundry, which we we used because we were there on the tail end of a three-week vacation.

We were there for a convention event, so the location was great, but otherwise the Seaport area -- while up and coming in Boston -- is still not exactly hopping. There wasn't much in the way of restaurants in the immediate area (though not a very long walk away to some good stuff by the water), and access to the subway is not great. It's about a 10 minute walk to the silver line bus, which connects you to the red line T at south station. So, for example, for a Fenway game, we took the Silver line to South Station, changed to the Red line, and then had to change to the green line. A pretty complicated journey.

We ended up using uber quite a bit. One interesting tidbit -- the uber app doesn't really recognize the Element yet, so it kept sending drivers to Summer Street and we'd always have to call to tell them where to pick us up.

The Aloft across the street looked pretty big and modern. But I assume that inside it's just a standard Aloft with the regular Aloft rooms. It did look pretty hip, though.

Think of the Element as a slightly upscale Hyatt Place with a kitchenette, and, if you book a 1 BR, a closing door and two TVs. If you'd make use of the kitchen (we did, although it was some distance to a grocery) it's definitely a good option. Again, though, the staff was phenomenal. Really nice, helpful, and really a great pleasure for our week there. In my experience this can be hit or miss in Boston -- even at the luxury hotels -- given the large number of transient college kids in the service industry there. I think the Element attracts a decent number of extended stay guests and so there is a different kind of vibe there, with seeing the same faces over and over, and it leads to a more friendly kind of atmosphere, if that makes sense.